This year, in commemoration of the 5th anniversary of the Misao Awards, a special committee was nominated by the public to give "special" Misao awards to games and their creators over the course of Rm* history. (The usual awards are yearly only.) It was decided by the committee that in addition to the categories and awards that the committee would vote on, that each committee member would present his own individual "special" awards.

The following people were nominated to the committee:

Brickroad
Legion
Sovan Jedi
WIP
Mr. Y
RPG Advocate (who unfortunately could not log in his votes in time)

These are the results of the awards the committee voted on:

Sistine Chapel Ceiling Award (Best Graphics)
Ara Fell

Superbowl Halftime Ad Award (Best Marketing)
Laxius Power

Snooty Subtitle Award (Best Non-English Rm* Game)
Dark Soul

Industrial Strength Gameplay Award (Best Gameplay)
The Frozen World

The Dirty Old Man Award (Best Rm2k game from 2000)
A Blurred Line

William Tell Overture Award (Best Music/Sounds/Audio)
Diary of a Madman

The "Take a Bow" Award (Best Cast)
The Way

OMGBSE "OMG Best Systems Ever" Award (Custom Systems)
Aurora Wing

Dungeon Man! Award (Best puzzles)
Push!

Fanatic's Compendium Award (Least embarrassing fangame)
Final Fantasy: Crystal Wings

Mistaken Identity Award ( Best Non-RPG Rm* Game)
Push!

Hemmingway Wishes He Had These Skillz Award (Best Story)
The Way

The Odds, Ends, and Penny Rolls Award (Best Little Things and Minor Touches)
Forever Across Dreams

Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny Award (Best Battle/Boss Fight)
Pokemon: The Evil Inside

A Winner Is You! Award (Best Complete Game)
Aurora Wing

Shit Hits The Fan Award (Biggest Impact)
A Blurred Line

One Ring To Rule Them All Award (Best Setting)
The Way

Below are the special awards given by each individual member of the committee, with their commentary (when given).

Brickroad

"Hungriest Treasure Boxes" Award
Crystal Chase

"It's been said about Crystal Chase that it's about as challenging as surviving a train wreck. Common treasure boxes will murder you in this game, solidifying it's place as one of the most merciless RM2k games in history."

"Best Game You've Never Played (You Bastards)" Award
Aurora Wing

"This game has a seamless custom battle system, intense tactical combat, great writing, and it's not bad lookin' either. Multiple story paths create extra replay value, and what's more, DFalcon is just an awesome guy. However, it has for some reason managed to completely avoid the success and fame it well deserves. What gives? Go play Aurora Wing now!"

"Princess Alena's Kickass Heroine Award"
Lita LeCotta, Ara Fell

"I have something of a reputation for being self-absorbed and arrogant, so when I say that Lita is THE best RM* heroine ever, even alongside my own beloved Karen, you know I'm saying something. Lita is cute, sassy, tomboyish, and even emo when she needs to be. She's well written and has a great supporting cast."

"Exit, Stage Left" Award
Julius Caesar

"Juan de Fuca's retelling of Julius Caesar isn't exactly a great game, but it's a faithful adaption of Shakespeare's play and definately a piece of RM history. Unfortunately it quits partway into Act 3, but at least it gets the good stuff onscreen."

"BEST GAME EVAR" Award
A Blurred Line

"Do I really need to justify this? It's an awesome story, full of suspense and written terrifically. No matter how many times you replay it you still don't know who to root for. Unfortunately the story will likely remain incomplete forever."

Legion

The Sephiroth Award For The Most Badass Villain:
Agent Kersh, ABL

The "Easter Bunny" Award For The Game Least Likely To EVER See Release:
Realm of Souls

The "It's Pronounced Ambience" Award for Best Atmosphere:
The Longing Ribbon

"The Fonz Award" for Coolest Storyline
Duplicity

Absolute Motherfucking Best Amateur Game
A Blurred Line

Sovan Jedi

"Great Fun Despite Bad Reputation" Award
Legion Saga 2

"Silly But Great" Award
Super Turbo Power Man

Just Not Funny, Stop Trying Now" Award
rm2kemon

"Golden Age of History" Award
Baldy's Big Day

"BEST GAME EVAR!" Award
A Blurred Line

WIP

"Ironclad Devotion to His Original Idea" Award
Maladroit Him, Wilfred the Hero

"Maladroit Him has a clear vision on his game, and there is little you can do to make him change it. It's hard to get absolute devotion like that."

"Most Promising Game That Vanished" Award
Eternal Souls

"One of the most well-known custom battle systems to never be seen again. From interesting abilities to atypical system backends, there was a lot of anticipation for this game."

"Most Intriguing Gameplay" Award
Ghost Ghost World

"Considered a "noob" effort by some and played by even fewer. This game allowed you to possess people and use their abilities. While underdeveloped, the possibilites were enormous."

"Closest To Living Up To Its Hype" Award
The Legend of the Philosopher's Stone

"Nemesis's opus comes close to what other hype-generated games didn't: actually being a great game. With developed characters and custom systems to boot, it almost hit that lofty goal set by hype."

"Best Game Ever" Award
The Frozen World

"Setting out to actually finish a game with a CBS, Lys did more than he expected: he created the most well-made game in the community. While not the graphical behemoth people wished it was, there was far more tucked inside. A great story with memorable characters seals the deal for this CBS-fueled wonder."

Mr. Y

"Best Classic Kung-Fu Action" Award
Retsu Arashi Psychic Storm

"I think this game's worth checking out just for the neat battle animations and for how it just feels like a classic kung-fu movie. In most other respects it was a pretty mediocre game though."

Best Amateur Gamemaker Award
Lysander86

"What can be said? It seems like every game the guy produces is gold. He's best known for A Blurred Line, but his short "projects on the side" like Blue Contestant, Frozen World, and Phantasy Star 32K are also very fun (I thought Book of Three was well-made too, only a little slow!)"

Best Community Game Award
Easy Mac

"Although based around members of GamingW, Erave's community game actually took place in Erave's fictional Easy Mac factory. Although it did the necessary job of throwing in everybody who submitted a charset to some place or another in the factory (Or elsewhere..), Erave went further and developed an interesting, funny (And perhaps a bit shallow?) story with many of the people who participated. I liked it especially because, rather than go the conventional route of imagining a GamingW Kingdom or City or something, the game instead transported the participants to a fictional location and then went further to make a real storyline behind the game."

The "I Don't Like Gears or Fighting" Award
Robocks

"I have yet to meet a game which does giant robots better. Then again, I haven't played any other games with giant robots. But seriously, giant robots are cool. And so is Xenogears."

"BEST GAME EVAR" Award
The Way

"I'm not sure what else you can expect out of amateur games. My biggest complaint is that quality varies so much between episodes. For example, the beautiful panoramas used for mapping in Episode 1 were pretty much out of fashion by the time Estrana rolled around, while in the early episodes the famous Plunge CBS doesn't go much beyond instant win-lose scenarios or rock-paper-scissors. But I digress! The Way is king in the gamemaking community in terms of gameplay, storyline, and design. You can nitpick and say that Way did X wrong or Y wrong, but it stands head and shoulders above most everything else. By the way, I agree with the others on the Misaos committee that ABL is a great game, but it's hard to compare it with The Way when ABL is an unfinished years-old game. I dunno- maybe my decision is different because I wasn't around to appreciate what ABL did back when it was released, I only played it afterwards? But I like my decision with The Way anyways."

For disclosure purposes, a log of the committee's deliberations is available here for download.